My All time Indian XI

 Test

1. Sunil Gavaskar

2. Virender Sehwag

3. Rahul Dravid

4. Sachin Tendular

5. V.V.S Laxman

6. M. S. Dhoni

7. Kapil Dev

8. Anil Kumble

9. J Srinath

10. B. Chandrasekhar

11 Bishen Singh Bedi#

12 Z Khan

ODI

1. S Tendulkar

2. V Sehwag

3. V Kohli

4. Y Singh

5. S Raina

6. M S Dhoni

7. H Singh

8 R Jadeja

9. Z Khan

10 J Srinath

11 A Kumble

T20

1. Rohit Sharma

2. V Sehwag

3. V Kohli

4. Y Singh

5. S Raina

6. M S Dhoni (c)

7. R Jadeja

8. H Pandya

9.  H Singh

10. J Bumrah

11  Shami

My All Time XI

It's a season of selecting the world XI.. here is mine.  The Lethal and invincible .. 

Test

1. Sunil Gavaskar
2. Mathew Hayden
3. Don Bradman ( C )
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Garfield Sobers
6. Kumar Sangakara (W)
7. Wasim Akram
8. Malcolm Marshal
9. Shane Warne
10. M Muralitharan
11. Dennis lillee

ODI

1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. B Lara
3. V Kohli
4. V Richards
5. AB D Villiars
6. MS Dhoni (C & W)
7. Wasim Akram
8. M Muralitharan
9. W Younis
10. S Warne
11. G McGrath

T20

1. C Gayle
2. V Sehwag
3. ABD 
4. Kohli
5. Dhoni ( C & W)
6. Y Singh
7. S Hasan
8. R Khan
9. Bumrah
10. Rabada
11. Malinga

Can you beat it??

Mastering the Boxing Day......

2018... 2020 and now 2021.... We did it again ...  (No matches in 2019 so missed 4 in a row ;) .. )...

There has been something magical on those 5 days I am crazy about ever since my childhood. A holiday season where you always feel like being in the blanket and having some nice hot pakodas with hot tea/coffee... Some excitement of the Christmas celebration along with the buzz of the new year.. Something really amazing... 

2018

 

2020

  

This year... A debutant Scott Boland became a cult hero and created history in the MCG just 2 days before ..

And Today Team India breached the fortress in Centurion ... A superb all round performance... 

 KL Rahul and Mayank on the first day..Followed by excellence of Super Shami with Boom Boom guy, Lethal siraj and the awesome Ash....

This unit is really special and needs an appreciation... Well done.. 

 

A different viewpoint - Indian fan

So finally & officially we are out of the T20 World Cup'21, but there are lot of good things happening around which makes me look forward for the next few days.. 

1. Rahul Dravid as the Head Coach 

2. Rohit Sharma as the T20I Captain

last but not the least ;D

3. Ravi Shashtri as our fav commentator...

So keep on chanting Indiaaa! Indiaaa!

... and celebrate the game of cricket...  exciting times ahead :) 

PaPPa of world Cricket

Sachin.. Sach in... Sach..in...... Well we have got couple of cricket matches more and then we would be plunged into a dark abyss with nothing to live for apart from those YouTube clips, those ESPN shows of earlier matches broadcasts.

Dont know whether we would have a new GOD of cricket after this, definitely for now a void has been created. 

We really are lucky that we have grown up watching him playing & achieving almost all the milestones. In a rapidly changing world, SRT has remained the only constant.

Lahli witnessed SRT bidding his first-class career a goodbye leading Mumbai to win with his master class 79*.  Battling alone there refreshed memory of 90s.  Very rarely people would have followed a Ranji match like this one.

Two more opportunities.. time to get glued to TV screen..  [ n Office ... Phew.. i guess everyone knows there :) ]

CariBbean Calypso

What Brazil is to football, when on song Windies are nothing less to cricket. Raw lethal power, sheer elegance, meaty clean muscled maximums ....... they do it with style .. dancing and making the crowd all across the word dance to their tunes. Ahem.....Brutal dictators of shorter version extravaganza.

I wonder, this IPL or any shorter version league would be so incomplete without them.  Be it Gayle.. Bravo .. Pollard ... Narine ... Kooper .. Smith.. Sammy ... Samuels... 

At the height of their prowess, they are simply an eye treat to watch..

Wish them good luck for the future ahead, and yeah dont forget to make them power player ( if u play  fantasy, or else u would repent)
................

HATS OFF JAMMY !

There has been lot of writings about the wall, his classy batsmanship, his strong and mighty defence.. I want to focus on the other side of R S Dravid.  What's special with this season RR .. their NAYI SOCH thinking.. Whether it be Fielding 5 pacers... Rahane slow but sound start.. Starting with Chandila .. Sending young Yagnik ahead of Dravid .. Samuel cameo.. their is something new everytimes RR walks to field and that too done by our Indian young guys ( Very rarely seen in IPL so far )

Shane warne has done it earlier way back in the first season , but not to forget he had the likes of Sohail Tanveer, Watso, Yusuf Pathan ( His lethal best so far :) ) , SRJ and the great Shane warne himself. Not taking anything from him, but Dravid is really doing it royal way. Promoting young guys, giving them confidence..... truly re writing the meaning of IPL. 

JOKERS.... Aren't they?

Hmm.. JOKERS... A perfect description for the national selectors. Many heroes of their time have been part of that committee but looks like this post is more suited for a Joker, be it anyone.

I wouldnt go much back. Before Australia series of India 2013, Exclusion of Gambhir was ok, but funniest part was "Who replaced him???" Vijay and Dhawan. I am not doubting their caliber but if selectors going by performance then why not WASIM JAFFER.. Tons of runs in the domestic season.. what does he need extra to prove? Well age certainly is not a factor, Given Sachin Pa is playing at the age of 40, and He is just 35 now.

And then retaining Bhajji, Ishant on the basis of performance and throwing out Viru.. and saying we are looking for south africa later this year. How does it make sense? 

India Cherishes

What an inning ! 24th Feb 2013,  Chepauk and Whole India witnessed a master class inning. After Master departed, A Hero from Ranchi came and created a masterpiece. He made the chepauk dancing on his melodious strokes as whole world witnessed only one rock star standing - MS Dhoni.



A double hundred in two-and-a-half sessions on a crumbling pitch doesn't happen too often, and it had to be Dhoni 224 who could dish out the superhuman entertainment package.

Well.. It goes very near to the heroics done in 2001.

Very very special Laxman wrote history books that day. An epic story of a superb artist. Priceless 281 and he showed "KHAM THOK THELTA HAI JAB NAR, PARVAT KE JAATE PAANV UKHAD.. MAANAV JAB JOR LAGATA HAI ... PATHTHAR PAANI BAN JAATA HAI" This was kohinoor of the innings i have seen.



Two master innings. Both will be remembered for their CLASS and CLASSY HERO

Waiting for the God

21 yrs back, i started watching this guy  in australia, a fearless young dashing and strokeful master blaster in the making and the world witnessed it, I really consider myself lucky that i have been a part of his beautiful journey(though virtually) .  Cricket became addiction because of this legend. Not sure about others, but i dont know what will i do when the master will stop playing.


Last few series have been a bad phase. We really want this to get over as soon as possible. We have been waiting sir , please make us privileged with your special knocks, your glorious straight drives.

Is CA Pujara the new Wall

The way he plays, the way he consolidates, the way he drives .... very much similar to the wall... but is it the right time to declare him or rather accept him as a new wall.. perhaps not.. he needs to be tested in overseas condition..